Gluskin Sheff more than doubles Q2 profit to $60.4M; announces special dividend

TORONTO – Gluskin Sheff + Associates Inc. (TSX:GS) credits a big increase in performance fees as well as higher base management fees for helping it more than double net income to $60.4 million in the second quarter.

As a result, the Toronto-based wealth manager for high net worth private clients and institutional investors said Thursday that it plans a special dividend of $1.40 per common share in addition to its regular quarterly dividend of 20 cents per share.

The special dividend relates to performance fees of $100.6 million earning in the six months ended Dec. 31, including almost $98.5 million in the second quarter.

The company also intends to reward shareholders with a buyback that could include up to almost 1.5 million common shares, or five per cent of its float.

Net earnings for the most recent quarter amounted to $2.05 per diluted share, up from $24.7 million or 85 cents in the same year-earlier period.

Quarterly revenue totalled $120.9 million versus $52 million in the prior-year period, including an increase in base management fees to $21.7 million from $18.7 million.

Gluskin Sheff said the increase was due primarily to the increase in average assets under management to an all-time high of $6.8 billion from $5.7 billion at the end of 2012, partially offset by a decrease in the average base management fee to 1.27 per cent from 1.32 per cent.